


A Newcomer in Paris

by ohmygoditsadinosaur



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 06:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3885928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoditsadinosaur/pseuds/ohmygoditsadinosaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her timing was perfect just as she was entering the building a young man, about twenty was exiting. He looked perplexed for a second to see a woman standing in the street with bags and a smile "Monsieur" the woman started "might you tell me where I can find the land Lord?"<br/>The man's face broke with a smile, a full hearted smile, "ahh you must be the new tenant, come the land Lord has asked me to show you to your room, come, and my name is  Courfeyrac." He took two of her bags.<br/>"And I am Emma, you live here?"<br/>"Yes, as do many of my friends,"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

1  
The woman woke up with a slight start as she gathered in her surroundings. It was summer, mid-June, and warm she had traveled long and hard and within a day, would be within the gates of Paris.  
The simple room she had boarded from a woman and her husband last night was small, yet adequate; it was a very charming home, it made her want one of her own. The girl visibly shook off the young school girl's thought. It was still dark out as she rose, her head felt groggy from the lack of sleep and she grabbed one of her bags.  
Deciding it would be best to change into more suitable clothing for a woman of her age she donned a simple long, brown skirt with a loose, black top. The woman looked like a simple country girl, not anything special, not too poor, not too well off. Nothing anything would risk their lives to rob. she still took the precaution of a beautiful slender knife that slightly resembled a letter opener. It had a black leather-wrapped hilt, silver and gold threads had been delicately woven into the leather giving it a criss cross pattern. The knife was sheathed in an equally slender brown case with a small strap that was draped around the woman's voluptuous hips like an ornament worn around the neck of a buesua (how in the hell do you spell that?? seriously tell me) the woman, thinking better of displaying the hilt of a knife that people would no doubt think she had stolen, slipped it into her skirt.  
Content with her appearance the woman walked downstairs to the meager front room. No one had stirred, as it was still quite early in the morn the woman silently took out a twenty franc note and set it under a bowl on the table. Hoping that someone in the house could read the young woman wrote:  
Thank you my dear Monsieur and Madame,  
This deed will not go forgotten, although you refused payment I give you twenty franc for the room and the food and I will also be taking some bread for my journey today.  
Wishing you well,  
Emma  
The young woman, Emma as she is now known, would have typically fluffed up a thank you note, but because she was short on time and she did not know if the couple could read she left it at that.  
She met a young boy at the stables who had promised to take her to Paris, he had said that the roads were not safe for a young woman to travel alone and that he had been robbed as a boy for all of 40 sous.  
The two talked as day broke over the horizon, spilling its warm light over the valley like water seeping into soft linen. They talked about their lives, at least the boy did, Emma; however, was not as willing to share.  
Towards mid day the two reached Paris. Emma explained which apartment she was to stay at and the stable boy clicked his tongue a couple times and the horses gently trotted toward the center of town near a campus. Emma had found these apartments from a friend of a friend whose brother was staying there who could get her a room for cheap.  
The apartments, she had been told, tended to be full of young rowdy men in their college years. Emma smiled, it was something she would enjoy, she hated women in general, that's not to say she hated all women. Emma hated the nature of women; kind to your face, only to build up a strong enough case to blackmail you or ruin you if the time ever presented itself.  
The two arrived at some buildings, much as her outfit, they were not too nice not too shabby. The young man helped her with her bags; there were only three and a long narrow box, containing all the amenities that she might need, including some that she hoped she would not. As always the woman had her knife to her side and a total of 3 guns in her bag, two side pistols with holsters and all and a long gun. She was an excellent marksman, a skill she had hoped not to use now that she was out of the country, where she would shoot for fun. "Thank you Monsieur, I can take it from here,"  
"But Mademoiselle"  
The woman smiled, she had a convincing smile that made the entire boy's fears about her being alone in the city disappear. The boy nodded. Emma handed him 15 france for his trouble. Although, he had volunteered to take her. The woman still smiling turned on her heels at walked towards the building.  
Her timing was perfect just as she was entering the building a young man, about twenty was exciting. He looked perplexed for a second to see a woman standing in the street with bags and a smile "Monsieur" the woman started "might you tell me where I can find the landLord?"  
The man's face broke with a smile, a full hearted smile, "ahh you must be the new tenant, come the landLord has asked me to show you to your room, come, and my name is Courfeyrac." He took two of her bags.  
"And I am Emma, you live here?"  
"Yes, as do many of my friends,"  
Emma silently watched as the young boy lead her into a small room no bigger than ten feet by eight. It would do wonderfully. She stood and surveyed the room as the man named Courfeyrac stood in the door.   
Emma turned and addressed the young man "thank you Monsieur, do not stay on account of me, I shall most likely unpack then explore this city I shall now call my home" her tone was confident, this was clearly a women used to independence.  
Courfeyrac saw this he bowed his head and turned "I am your neighbor now," he gestured to his right "I was going to get a bite to eat then I am free for the rest of the day, if you would like a tour"  
Emma smiled "I would love that" she stated simply "when I have finished, which probably would take me too long I will knock" she smiled and turned to her bag.  
The man left, he apparently turned right into someone as there were muffled words and sounds in the hall. Emma turned in time to briefly glimpse at a beautiful blond man in a red coat Passing by. It’s not like Courfeyrac was not attractive, he was, but this man was breathtaking. She shook her head and started to unpack.  
There was a small closet I'm the corner where she hung up the multitude of dresses, skirts, blouses, and pants. She was prepared for most anything; she was used to the strange turn of events that had become her life.  
Emma smiled, for good or for bad they sure kept things interesting. She now turned to the box, this box contained her guns, they weren't something she could just leave out to be seen by anyone, she had no doubt Courfeyrac had recognized them as what they were. She stashed the box in her closet, which was conveniently just tall enough so the box could stand against the wall.  
Her next bag contained the furnishings for her room, which she promptly unpacked. She hung up the thick curtains that offered some protection from the wandering eyes of the homes across the way and from the chill of the night. She brought out a brush, comb and mirror all with matching silver handles and backs, worn through countless years of love yet very well taken care of. There were black lines in the cool metal that contoured and highlighted the delicate carvings in the handle of her mirror.  
She paused for a moment thinking of the vanity of the silver, but this silver had been in her family for generations, it wasn’t just something she could give away. She took out a few candle sticks and set them on the desk, which would double as her night stand.  
Lastly she took her last bag; her bag that contained all of the documents and the books of her life. She set the books in the bottom drawer of the meager desk. There was a simple cherry colored box in the bottom of the bag big enough to fit a large sum of money and a few letters. On the outside the box had two iron bands with clasps on the front. It was an expertly crafted money box; one would not be able to break the locks very quickly, if the culprit even thought to look into what appeared to just be a letter box. She set it on the table; she would deal with where to hide it later.  
She wanted to go to the market to see if she could get a few small things but for now she wanted to lie down. She took her long auburn hair out of a single braid and set the ribbon on the desk, too tired to think to lock or close the slightly ajar door. Emma shut her eyes for what seemed like 5 minutes and drifted quickly off to sleep, she had not slept in a fortnight for more than 5 or 6 hours.


	2. 2

2  
Emma heard laughing; it rang through her brain like bells pulling her mind back into the world of the living. In that vague spot between when one wakes and one is asleep they are at their most vulnerable, both the dream world and the living world fight for dominance until one gain the upper hand and the person is wrenched into consciousness or slips back into dreams.  
During this moment Emma heard a loud crash in her room. Her eyes snapped open as she jolted into the living world like a bolt of lighting. She immediately went for the gun that she typically kept at her right. She found nothing, afraid for a moment that she had been disarmed, Emma got ready to fight, that is until she gained his composure and saw the man in her room.  
He seemed just as startled and embarrassed as she was. he knelt down to pick up the box that had been sitting on her desk moments before. She raised her eyebrows and without saying a word asked all of the questions one would when put in this spot.  
“Ahh mademoiselle I am very sorry, my name is Joly” he bowed slightly “Courfeyrac sent me over here to fetch you; he said that you had a meeting with him early and missed it.”  
Looking slightly puzzled she asked the strange young man “what time is it?”  
“Nigh five” he laughed, his demeanor was puzzling, he was a strange man in Emma’s room who was looking through her stuff as she slept, but she felt at ease.  
“Ahh” she let out a short sigh that ended in a laugh. One side of her mouth curled up in a devilishly and yet sweet smile that made her eyes twinkle and her face appear radiant. “Well does the mousier mind making my afternoon tour an evening tour?” Joly laughed “he wanted to see if you would come to the café with us tonight?”  
Emma put her hand on her face with a thumb on one jaw bone and the index finger on the other as she pretended to weight her options, “will the wine flow free?”  
Joly smiled and nodded “if Grantaire is there most certainly”  
“Will there be music and dancing?”  
“Most certainly!” Joly smiled.  
“Give my five minutes and I will meet you in Coufeyrac’s room” with that the man left, as he pushed the still open door he nudged it as to be careful to touch it very little. Emma thought this slightly odd but didn’t give it much time. She ran her comb through her hair and put up what would be her bangs with a ribbon.  
She had thick wavy hair that was rather hard to control and more of a pain than it was worth in her mind, but she kept it never the less. She walked over to the basin in the corner and looked at it. There was a pipe that went up to the roof with a small lever on the base. She imagined that it went up to a cistern on the roof where the rainwater was collected then, in the summer at least could be called on at any time. She quickly took a washcloth and wiped down her face and neck with soap and water.  
She looked at her face in the mirror. She was by no means ugly but nor was she pretty. She was a woman who could never count on her looks alone to get her by. She used her charm and wit to make up for her look. She had a square face with a defined jaw line, light blue eyes and small lips. There was nothing special to her appearance and she accepted that, some would say that there was a certain beauty to the woman's confidence but she didn't think much of it.  
She was not thin nor was she plump, she had a weight somewhere in the middle. She would not change her look, as the one she had suited her. She always knew that people actions were never affected by her looks.  
Feeling much better she went to the door of her neighbor. As the door was already mostly open she entered with a slight knock. She saw three men in the room: a curly haired brunette she knew as Courfeyrac, the one with shaggy, short, dark hair she knew now as Joly and a dirty blond haired man she didn’t recognize.  
"Ahh!" Courfeyrac exclaimed, clearly already having had a glass of wine or two, as his face was red and his eyes twinkled, giving the appearance that he clearly knew what was going on but things weren't quite coming into his brain right. "she awakes!! Joly said you were sleeping like a babe"  
Emma halfway jokingly half way serious narrowed her eyes at Joly having compared her to a babe. "Ahh yes, until that is, that he knocked a box off my table."  
The three men laughed, their laughter rang out like only slightly intoxicated men's laughs could. The man with dirty bond hair asked "shall we go? I'm Combeferre by the way."  
Courfeyrac took Emma by the arm and lead her out into the Parisian night. They walked into a well lit café near the apartments.   
It was a friendly environment, but it wasn't very busy, not a place to be loud in. Emma looked around trying to hide her confusion. Courfeyrac winked at her and lead her to a small back room.   
upon entering Emma was no less confused. The four of them sat down at a table already occupied by two others. Combeferre introduced them as Marius, and the other as Enjolras, the beautiful blond who had passed her door earlier today. She couldn't help but look at that man. He had blond curly hair and piercing blue eyes that were older than the man himself. He looked like he had a lot on his mind. Emma was too nervous around that man to ask him anything so she pretended to ignore him.   
There were still a few open spots around the table which were quickly filled by a few men who introduced themselves, Emma being way too preoccupied with Enjolras didn't pay attention to their names.   
Enjolras by this point had stood up and was pacing at the window. "Courfeyrac." He said, it wasn't quite a yell; it was more of an order.   
Courfeyrac silently stood and walked towards Enjolras. They stood their for a bit, appearing to be having an argument, and finally walked back. Courfeyrac grabbed a bottle and slammed himself into the chair beside Emma. Enjolras sat back down, only this time he sat across from Emma, whereas before he sat next to her.  
Emma could feel the hostility between them and knew she was the cause. Even though she had only been there for 30 minutes, hadn't eaten or drank, she mumbled something to Courfeyrac and stood.  
She left the back room and walked outside she started back to the apartments when someone grabbed her wrist. She instinctively reached into her skirt and grabbed the knife, whipped around and held it to the man's throat. she had a calmed collected look, no panic whatsoever.   
The man turned out to be none other than Courfeyrac. Emma's eyes widened and she lowered the knife.   
Courfeyrac nervously laughed "remind me to never sneak up behind you" he glanced down at the knife, Emma sheathed it.  
"I'm sorry," she looked around trying to find an excuse, she just shrugged. She was upset, normally she wouldn't have turned like that, but with a new city and her confusion and the blond man's bitterness towards her she went to her most basic instincts. When you are put into a situation where you have no idea what is happening you turn to your most basic instincts. in Emma's case fight; not flight.   
Clearly still shaken Courfeyrac asked her why she left.  
"Enjolras clearly didn't want me there, I wasn't going to stay." She was blunt and to the point, sugar coating was just another form of deception in her mind.   
"Well, he doesn't let girls back there, but I convinced him the let you stay"  
"Oh well in that case..." she started sarcastically, until she saw Coufeyrac’s eyes, then she backed off, looking down.   
"Come on let's go get something to eat"  
Courfeyrac took her around and down and turned and went until Emma couldn't even point in the direction of the apartments. she laughed at this. Courfeyrac gave her a quizzical look. She gave him a small smile, nearly the same as the one she gave Joly earlier, only this one innocent, not nearly as whole hearted, but true nevertheless. "Don't leave me," she paused, "I would get lost so quick," she winked  
Courfeyrac turned forward, not wanting Emma to see the excitement in his face at the first statement. She was absolutely beautiful and Courfeyrac was already feeling attracted to her, he knew that there was no way Emma could return his feelings.  
They walked to a cafe and ordered. The cafe was bustling, there were people coming and going, drinking and laughing. This was a much better environment to have fun. "So what's your story Mademoiselle?"  
Emma looked at the ceiling, "it's not very interesting."  
"HA, you just nearly slit my throat because I grabbed your wrist."  
Emma smiled "I said it wasn't interesting, not that it didn't exist," Courfeyrac gave her a look that egged her on. "Maybe after a few bottles," she winked.  
Courfeyrac stood and grabbed a bottle of wine. Without pouring a glass he took a swig and handed her the bottle. She drank the sweet, bitter nectar heartedly, half way trying to prove something, half way to calm herself down.   
"So, Enjolras won't let women back there?"  
"Yeah he says they distract us."  
Emma raised an eyebrow.   
He shrugged, "what do you think of the king?" he asked in a low tone.  
She laughed bitterly "what is there to think? he sits there and does nothing, while all of his minions tax the poor. He allows them to do whatever they please as long as it doesn't interfere with his tax collection. He doesn't do anything but tax, so I guess you could say I hate him."  
"Dangerous words," he stated simply.  
"Well someone has to say them, or nothing is going to change. I'm not afraid of those Bastards, I'm going to speak my mind, and anyways you brought it up."  
Courfeyrac sat back in his chair, before he had been propped up on his elbows listening intensively to Emma, she had a way with her words that is hard to convey, when she spoke you wanted to listen. Before Courfeyrac had not noticed it, it showed more clearly when what she was saying mattered. They got their food and ate in silence, Courfeyrac had so many more questions, he knew, however, that he would have to get her much more drunk and the room would have to get louder. He knew the room would get louder as the people came, the room was already filling it was only a matter of time before the music began. As for the first, Emma seemed to be getting there by herself.   
Emma's face had filled with color she had an incredibly happy glow to her, at least she wasn't a mean drunk. Since Emma had taken the bottle from Courfeyrac she had downed a third of it. She certainly could drink, most girls after downing that much wine in that little time would be screaming or passing out. Emma had a smile on her face, like a cat ready to pounce, slightly devilish.  
She looked around feeling as if everything was coming into her brain better, clearer. Of course it wasn't but that's how she was interpreting the signals of light flooding into her brain. She looked at Courfeyrac, who had given up on getting that bottle back from Emma and had gotten another. Emma saw a look on his face, she couldn't explain it. He looked amused and protective, yet not patronizing. Their eyes met and he stood offering her a hand. She took it without thought, because that's what you do when you drink, you think, but it's more instinctive. She trusted this man, she offered her his hand, she wasn't going to turn it down.  
As she stood the wine hit her like a train. She felt it before but when you stand *bam*. She looked at the bottle, half of it was gone. She hadn't realized.  
She tried to sit back down, but by the time she went through all of that in her brain Courfeyrac was already leading her out onto a floor, a dance floor, she smiled. They whirled around to the music for what seemed like just minutes. It had been nearly an hour before the two sat back down at the table.   
"Have you ever tried absinthe?" Emma asked.  
Coufeyrac’s eyes widened with an excited nervous air. "Oh yes," he stood and went to the bar and got a small bottle, Emma had tried it before, but it wasn't something that she ever drank. Paris was the absinthe capital of the world and her judgment was impaired, so she figured it was a good idea, well maybe not a good one, just not a bad one.   
Courfeyrac poured two small glasses. The liquid was so foul that one had to drink it through a cube of sugar. There was a small spoon looking device to hold the cube over the glass. They looked at each other and threw them back. Emma's shot, naturally went down the wrong pipe. she just managed to hold back the coughing fit she was about to go into to swallow the liquid.   
By the time her fit was over Courfeyrac had come and sat beside her, his arm around he shoulders, a look at concern that is special to only kind hearts when they are very drunk.   
"I'm fine" she croaked.   
"Don't swallow."  
"What?" she looked at him, her face the epitome of confusion.  
He laughed at her confusion. Emma confused and a bit embarrassed and upset at being laughed at, grabbed the bottle of wine and washed down the absinthe, it was by no means tasty.   
"You just kind of open your throat and try not to taste it."  
She looked down, she knew this, it had just been so long since she had had to. She had been drinking for a while, and with the type of ego she had she didn't think that she would need to.  
"Yeah, right, I forgot."  
Courfeyrac smiled, "again?"  
So they did, twice more. by this time both were so far gone that there was no way either could make any good decisions.  
"So, are you drunk enough to tell me your story?"  
"too drunk, icouldntgetwordsoutifitried," her words slurred together into one long chain, but Courfeyrac understood, he looked disappointed. A sadness emanated from him that hit Emma like a wave. she gasped at the puppy dog like sadness. "Tomorrow, i promise," the two of them sat there and talked, making about as much sense as two drunkards can. It was about eleven before someone at the bar cut them off. It was 3 before Courfeyrac was sober enough to help Emma home.   
Their homeward journey took three times as long as their arriving journey did, Courfeyrac helped the surprisingly still conscious Emma into her bed on her side of course. Courfeyrac locked her door and went to his own room where he passed out as quickly as Emma did.  
Emma awoke, not hung-over, she was still drunk. Not horribly drunk, she could feel the point of the hangover coming. She got out of bed and there it was. Her head felt groggy, as if there was thick deep mud in her brain that her thoughts had to drag themselves through before they could be understood. She put on some water, having no doubt Courfeyrac was still out she made him tea from a small collection of herbs, it didn't taste very good, but it was a great hangover cure. She looked into the small pocket of her shirt that she kept her money in, all of it was still there indicating that she had not paid. Judging by the fact that they had left smoothly Emma assumed that Courfeyrac paid. She didn't like that. She had money she could pay.   
She took the tea and 15 francs and knocked on Coufeyrac’s door. A clearly hung-over man answered, she handed him the tea and he smiled. They sat in silence and drank their tea. Emma was the one to break the silence. She handed him the money and said "here I can't let you pay for all of that."  
He pushed the bill away. "no, no, no, keep your money, it wasn't that much anyways."   
She pursed her lip and let her hand fall. The two of them were sitting side by side on the rather small bed. Emma, seeing that Courfeyrac had not drank very much, told him it would help and she leaned in closer.  
She sat back again as Courfeyrac finished his tea. It was still rather early, considering when they want to bed at least and Emma layer her head on his shoulder. She didn't think much of it, Courfeyrac, however, did. He set his head on top of hers and they both fell asleep in this very awkward position.   
When Emma woke she was laying in Coufeyrac’s bed with a blanket wrapped around her. Courfeyrac was standing at his window in fresh clothes, Emma was still wearing hers from last night.   
Courfeyrac turned as Emma sat up. He walked over to her and brushed the hair out of her face. Emma closed her eyes, not wanting to get up she buried her head into the crook of the man's neck. he smelled wonderful, the same, Emma knew could not be said for her.  
He wrapped his arms around her, tight, like her brother used to. At this thought she sat back up, he let go, and looked at her confused. She sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just...I'm going to go clean up."  
"you promised me that you would tell me your story." Courfeyrac halfway asked half told her.  
She sighed, she didn't remember telling him that, but she knew she would, and she also doubted that Courfeyrac would lie. "Ok, give me a bit and I'll tell you, 30 minutes?"  
Courfeyrac nodded in affirmation.  
She left the man's room to clean herself and change her clothes. Leaving Courfeyrac a bit confused, hung-over, and worried that he had scared her off.   
Courfeyrac left a note in his room in case it took longer to get something to eat than Emma took to get ready and left.  
Courfeyrac went down to the street and took a couple turns. He ended at a bustling street market. He got bread, butter, and some fresh milk, it wasn't too fancy but the bread had raisins and cinnamon. He figured that no one would complain. As he walked he thought about Emma.   
She was beautiful, but she either didn't know, or knew and didn't want to flaunt it. she had a strange color of blue eyes, they weren't always blue; most of the time they were a deep turquoise blue, but last night they turned an iridescent light blue, and this morning they were a dim blue with yellow streaks in the center.  
Courfeyrac loved the way they lit up and sparkled when they laughed and even the way they flared with anger occasionally. You could tell Emma's emotions only through her eyes, she could cover up any emotion with her face, but not her eyes. Eyes are the window to a person's soul, and Emma's were wide open once you knew where to look.   
Her face if described, would sound masculine, but it was far from it. She had a square face, with a small nose that led up to well shaped light brown brows. Her lips were small, when she wasn't smiling her lips only just made it to the apples of her cheeks. They were thin but well shaped, her Cupids bow was sharp and quickly only sloped off into the corners of her lips where they disappeared.   
Courfeyrac wasn't paying much attention to where he was and nearly ran straight into Emma who was just exiting her room. Struck back into reality Courfeyrac held up the bread and said "breakfast?"  
Emma smiled and nodded. Courfeyrac unlocked his door and lead the woman inside. Courfeyrac couldn't quite look at her so he occupied himself with making a spot of breakfast and without turning said "so, your story?"  
"Persistent aren't you?" she laughed.  
He shrugged, "yeah, I'm really curious."  
"Hmmm, one condition," she came up behind him, "you take this," she handed him the bank bill and lightly set her hand on his shoulder blade. Courfeyrac looked at her, she winked "I'm persistent too."   
He took the bill and she began; " Well I was born to a wealthy family in the country, my mother died when I was little, I don't really remember her. When I was 7 my father remarried, she was a scornful woman. She hated me, I never was taught how to be a proper woman, I couldn't sew or cook, I ran around with no shoes despite having the money to buy them." She paused as Courfeyrac handed her food and sat next to her. Courfeyrac looked at her and nodded, she laughed a bitter laugh and continued.   
"Natural I did whatever I could to get on that woman's nerves, my father was oblivious and my brother thought it was hilarious. She tried to civilize him too, only he was better at hiding his rebellion.   
"My father died when I was ten, it was rather sudden, he came down with a fever and within a week he was gone." She didn't add that she had always suspected her stepmother had something to do with it, Emma always thought that she was just after her father's money. "Directly after the funeral I was shipped off to Paris to a boarding school for girls. it was attached to a Convent. the nuns there were so strict, we literally were not allowed to have fun." She made a face at Courfeyrac to reconfirm her distaste for the place.  
"Anyways, one day the bishop was visiting and I took it as a chance to escape. I asked for a one day pass knowing that he just might grant it, and that the nuns never would, he gave me a pass for three." Courfeyrac smiled at her and his eyes lit up. "Naturally I went directly home, it was three days before the Covent suspected anything." She laughed, "when I made it home I found my brother, by this time I was 13 and he was 18. I found that my stepmother had died from scarlet fever, I wasn't exactly sad." She looked down, she was embarrassed that she cared so little and that she would have told this relative stranger this. Although, she thought, you can't exactly drink absinthe with someone and not have a deep bond with them.   
"My brother had inherited the estate, he had always assumed that I liked where I was because my stepmother, who had been pretending to write me told him I was. She also told him that I couldn't have any contact with him because he was a male, so he didn't write me for all three years that I was there. Upon hearing my side of the story my brother wrote the Covent, telling them that our stepmother was dead and I would not be returning." She paused and took a deep breath trying to contain the wave of emotions that had just hit her. She couldn't cry.  
"My brother raised me, as did his friends. They had all at one point or another fought in the military, so they taught me to fight, part out of need part out of want, they taught me everything that I wanted or needed to know, they never cared about the social expectations of a woman. I learned how to shoot and hunt and ride from them but about a month ago," she paused, and looked down. She pulled her knees to her face. Courfeyrac put his arm around her trying to confront her, but not ready knowing what was happening.  
After a minute or two Emma looked up trying to hide the tear that had formed she turned away from the concerned Courfeyrac to wipe it away before it fell. Courfeyrac pretended not to notice and gave her a slight squeeze.   
"He died. He was going to London to see a friend. That's all I know really. He was very secretive about some things. He had his funeral a week later. I needed to leave. The second I sold off the estate I left for Paris, he was twenty-four, only twenty-four."  
Courfeyrac looked at her clothes, she was wearing a light blue dress, not exactly something someone in mourning would wear. He tried not to make it too obvious but she caught the look nevertheless.  
She laughed despite the ever building tears. "I have no one to tell me to be in mourning, or to stop, and anyways it's really no one's concern whether I have a dead loved one, I don't know why I would show it off to the world, and my brother didn't like the idea of having a set time to be sad. He would have wanted me to recover and live." She rested her chin on her knees. "I'm sorry I'm a moron."  
Courfeyrac silent until now spoke, "your brother, who apparently raised you, just passed, and you think you're a moron for being upset?" Courfeyrac avoided the word 'crying' knowing that would only embarrass her further.  
She didn't respond. He sat back with her still in his arms, she didn't cry, or at least there was no sign of it to Courfeyrac he played with the tips of her hair, which did help it console the woman and she nuzzled into the man's strong chest tighter. They sat there in silence until a knock came on the door.


	3. 3

3  
Courfeyrac went to the door and a rather pissed off Enjolras burst in without looking around to see her and he started yelling at Courfeyrac, "I can't believe you! you know how I feel about women at the ABC! do you even know her? how do you know she isn't some imperialist spy? Courfeyrac how do I know I can even trust you! you probably just picked her off the street she's probably just another hussy you're sleeping with."  
Courfeyrac began to stammer and Emma stood and approached Enjolras. "I'm right here" she approached him "why don't you talk to me?"   
Enjolras still inflamed looked back at Courfeyrac "so you are sleeping with her"  
With this Emma couldn't control herself. She didn't slap him, no Emma was raised by men, she doubled back her fist and hit him in the mouth. It wasn't a hard hit, she just wanted to shut him up.  
"Why don't you make your rude assumptions to my face. I am not hussy, nor am I am imperialist." She hissed the words, "you however appear to just be another sexist man that I have spent my whole life avoiding," she turned and left the room.  
Emma went into her room and fell into her bed. In the other room she could hear the men yelling at each other, well they weren't quite yelling but they might as well have been. At this point she didn't care. She looked at her window, it opened to a back street and appeared to open all the way.   
She stood and opened it. She looked up and saw a ledge that she could just grab. She swung up to the ledge and pulled herself onto the roof.   
Emma sat on the roof and looked at the street below. There were a few passersby but no one looked up. She looked at the sun, it appeared to be a bit before noon. Her head hurt, despite the tea, she was still hung-over.   
She thought of Courfeyrac and Enjolras' argument. Enjolras was just like all of the beautiful men she had met before. They knew what they had and they wanted to have it their way because of it. His words did confuse her though. Why had she called her an imperialist? It's not like politics had been brought up. Emma, thinking back to last night remembered Coufeyrac’s question, what do you think of the king? But her answer by no means had been that of an imperialist. She shook off the question.  
Emma wished she hadn't punched Enjolras, as she left she had noticed a bit of blood. She didn't intend to break skin. She huffed, she should have been the bigger person but as usual she let her emotions take charge. Typical she thought. She grabbed the roots of her hair and pulled it to one side. She laid back and noticed that she was not alone up here. Courfeyrac stood about ten feet back and looked at her. He appeared to be angry, but it wasn't directed at anyone, just anger.   
Courfeyrac started, "I walked into your room and saw your feet disappear," he motioned up.   
Emma was still lost in her emotions, utter rage at Enjolras, sadness over the loss of her brother and embarrassment and anger at herself for both hitting the man and being such a wreck. She sat up not wanting to look at the stranger who she told her life story to.   
"I'm sorry about Enjolras, he... he..." Courfeyrac stumbled over his words. "He thinks he is always right, he wants it done his way, he is a good friend of mine, although he definitely deserved the punch he got," he sat down beside Emma. "After I explained to him why I brought you to the ABC cafe he calmed down a bit, he said that he doesn't like women there because they distract the men, which, I guess he isn't wrong, your beauty definitely did distract them. That's the only reason he was upset, he apparently had something important to tell us." Courfeyrac shrugged, "it was my fault I'm sorry"  
Emma was still a bit taken aback, beauty? what the hell is he talking about? she pushed it to the back of her mind. "I shouldn't have hit him, he shouldn't have called me a hussy. We're even now."   
Courfeyrac laughed "he deserved it though. don't worry."  
they sat there and laughed until Coufeyrac’s stomach wanted lunch, she didn't want anything so he left her on the roof to her thoughts.   
After a while Emma got bored. She decided that Courfeyrac was never going to give her that tour, so she would take herself. She dropped back into her room, this was the difficulty. In her room at her estate the roof was even with the wall and the window reached up much further. This the roof was overlapping the wall by about a foot and the window sill was just in reach of her foot. She swung herself down, catching the eve with her hands and swung her now bare feet onto the sill. In one swift movement she attempted to catch the slit that her window slid in between. Her fingers just missed and Emma began to fall. A hand caught her at the last moment and pulled her into her room.  
It was the hand of Enjolras. He pulled her with such force that she slammed into the man's chest nearly knocking him and her over. She stood there eyes wide and breathing shakily, the adrenaline had left as soon as it came and her limbs would not hold her. Still in Enjolras' arms her legs began to shake and he helped her to her bed where she sat and took a breath.  
Emma, to settle herself, made a joke "what's up with strange men coming into my room?"   
Enjolras looked at her confused, "I came to apologize, and the door was open I was about to leave when you... dropped from the sky, and almost fell."   
She smiled, "I wanted to apologize to you as well, I should have hit you. I was just... preoccupied" she picked her word carefully, she didn't want to tell her story to him as well.  
"nice punch by the way," he held his jaw.  
she grimaced, "let me see," she stood and held his face in her hand. looking at his lip she tenderly ran her thumb over a slightly purple bump. Enjolras slightly flinched back but kept where he was. "is it split all the way through?"   
he nodded.   
she pursed her lips, sincerely regretting what she had done. "I'm sorry, it will probably scar,"   
"yes," he laughed "it probably will."  
"well I have one on my lip as well, although; it wasn't from being hit, I fell of my horse when I was little and knocked myself out, I guess a rock hit me at some point," she laughed, "I woke up and my brother was freaking out I had blood all over a new blouse, my stepmother was so mad." she laughed it gave her great pleasure to remember that, although her stepmother had been far from kind about it. in an instance like that her stepmother thought that a few words weren't enough. she ended up with more scars than that of her lip.  
"Courfeyrac said you drank him under the table last night?" Enjolras attempted to make conversation.  
Emma laughed "I think we both drank each other under the table, he was the one who was sober enough to take us home."  
"he said you drank more than he did."  
"did I?" she laughed "oh God"   
"shall we take a walk?" Enjolras asked her, but did not offer an arm. they walked aimlessly through the streets of Paris. until Enjolras asked her "so if you aren't an imperialist, what are you?"  
Emma thought for a second "I don't really have an association, I know what I'm not, I know what I believe in, but I don't necessarily associate with any one party." she shrugged "I guess I've just never found one I fully agree with"  
"what do you believe?" Enjolras egged her on.  
"to simply put it I believe in freedom; I believe in people having the ability to get what they want but not to just have it handed to them. I believe in working for what you have and most importantly I believe in rights for everyone," her eyes narrowed, "including women and the poor."  
Enjolras did not speak for several minutes "how do you think we as, people can get these things?"  
Emma thought for a minute "by fighting for them, we don't necessarily have to fight physically, although, historically, in situations like this that's often what it comes down to. the people have to demand it, those who can and will speak must. those who can and will fight must. they might be called lunatics but it doesn't make them wrong." she took a long pause "I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees."  
with that said Enjolras nodded "I would agree, but, are you truly willing to die on your feet?"  
there was absolutely no hesitation in the woman's voice "absolutely."  
the man turned to her and looked into her eyes. her gaze stood firm despite feeling the pressure to turn. "well then perhaps Courfeyrac wasn't completely aims when he brought you to our meeting, although perhaps his reasons weren't quite the same. Emma would you like to join us at the cafe tonight for dinner? in the back room?"  
Emma at this point could not hold back her curiosity. "I would," with this Enjolras left her at the foot of the steps to her apartment.  
Emma's stomach growled at her suddenly becoming aware of her hunger she wandered into a cafe. she got a bowl of soup and sat down. her thoughts turned through the strange occurrences of the day as she ate. as soon as she finished she left for a market that a passerby told her of.   
Courfeyrac:  
Courfeyrac stood by his window appearing to be following someone on the street with his eyes, it was a young girl, Emma, she walked out of the cafe and turned down the other street, probably to the market. Courfeyrac was slightly unnerved at this young woman venturing out on her own. but he knew she could keep herself. he put his hand up to his neck, remembering her knife.   
"Courfeyrac! are you listening?"  
Courfeyrac turned, he had forgotten that he was not alone, a man sat on his bed; Marius.  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
"what is wrong with you? if I didn't know any better I would say you were in love with that young harlot." Marius poked and laughed.  
"why does everyone assume she is just some hussy?" Courfeyrac said, trying to keep his tone even, but Marius could tell there was some defensiveness in his voice.  
"well, given your previous record, wasn't only last week that you said 'I sure would like to add her to my list' to that woman with her skirt pulled nearly to her guarder?"  
Courfeyrac looked down and laughed, "yes, but Emma isn't just some girl with nice legs..." he trailed off, and turned back to the window to hide the embarrassment at his statement. Marius had gotten what he wanted out of Courfeyrac.  
"ahhh" Marius let out a mocking sigh "Courfeyrac in love with Emma, Emma, Emma," Marius continued to whisper her name, and Courfeyrac grew ever more embarrassed.   
"Marius!" he finally yelled, still facing the window.   
Marius howled with laughter. "no I'm sorry I should not mock you, how did Enjolras feel about her being at the meeting last night?"   
"well, he was angry," he paused and laughed "he burst into my room this morning and didn't see her there, he called her a hussy and she split his lip."  
"so you are sleeping with her?"  
"no. she brought me some tea, we drank the night before after I left, let me tell you she can drink, she finished a whole bottle of wine and," he paused, "quite a bit of absinthe. she didn't pass out until we were home, it's not like she is big either."  
Marius had a look of shock on his face, "seriously? she is small, she can't be more than 5'3" (I know this would have been tall for a girl in her time, as the average man was only like 5'6"... but I can't bring myself to make her smaller)   
Courfeyrac laughed "I know, but anyways, Enjolras got over it. she called him sexist, I think that bruised his ego a bit. he didn't give me too hard of a time after she left."  
the men talked for a while longer but what was said was of no importance. at 5:30 they left for the cafe on Marius' way out he remembered his hat in Coufeyrac’s room, Courfeyrac gave him his key and continued to the cafe.   
Marius was just unlocking Coufeyrac’s door as Emma was leaving her room. Marius gave Emma a smile, it was a strange smile, the exact one you would expect out of a man seeing a woman, who for all intents and purposes his friend, who wasn't known for staying settled, just confessed his love for. Emma gave Marius a confused look but kept waking.  
Emma:  
she entered the same back room as the night before only this time, she was welcomed.   
she sat at the table next to Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac turned to her a look of absolute surprise, horror and amazement all wrapped into one. "why are you here?" he hissed.  
she raised her eyebrows and winked, she maintained her devilish smile and looked away. Courfeyrac continued in his confused look and stared at her.   
Enjolras entered, late, unusual, and sat next to Emma. this only further Coufeyrac’s conferment. once the table had filled Enjolras stood and spoke "this is Emma, she was here last night, as I'm sure you all noticed, you make speak freely with her. show her what the ABC is." with this the men cheered.  
they began debating, about the government. one man said "a constitutional monarchy is the only likely thing, the people aren't ready for that kind of change."  
the debate went on, they argued the best form of government. after a while Emma rose and paced by the window listening.  
"you have been awfully silent Emma," a man, she could quite remember his name, Felix? f, f, what was it?   
she paused and faced the table, all eyes trained on her, "well" she began, "as I would agree that all of the options on the table as of now would result in some bettering of the nation, I think only the most radical are enough," some of the men looked taken aback. she continued "you flinch at the idea of 'radical' but isn't the very idea you propose radical? you talk of changing the foundation of this country but you want to do it in small steps. I disagree, we need one radical sweeping change that uproots the very corruption of our present government. corruption is a sickness, if you don't cure it all at once it continues to spread.   
"I would agree with the proposal of a republic, the Romans had a successfully functioning republic for 200 years. you know why it failed? simply put, corruption. see the Roman system had in place, a wartime emperor, and one day after the war was finished, the emperor would not step down and share the spot with the man who was supposed to be his counterpart and thus the republic fell. to form a fully functioning republic we would have to limit the government down to the very bone. give the power to the people: the wealthy get one vote, the poor get one vote, the old, the women, the young, the men, the farmer, the merchant all get one vote.   
"unfortunately we can expect corruption from any system, a republic with a constitution just allows for the most personal freedom and for the ability to get rid of the corrupt. it limits the power of those who would seek it, limiting the ability to become corrupt; although. not eliminating it, there is no such thing as a corruption free society. if you put one man or one family in charge the first man might be good, the second, the third, the fourth, but eventually corruption falls, and with no way to vote them out, you can't get rid of it, and we end up with what we have now. another monarch taking advantage of his power." Emma, now finished, sat. the men pondered her words, for a while, Emma had begun to think she said too much. until a man spoke up "wise words from a woman so young, have you gone to college girl?"  
"no, I haven't had very much formal education, my brother however had a lot, he dabbled in a bit of everything, law, medicine..." she shrugged, " I would read his books, any book I could get my hand on." she laughed like bells in the night.   
the men discussed it a bit more but all of them were still entranced with her words.   
after a while they started to leave, and soon it was her, Enjolras and Courfeyrac. "do you want to help me with speeches? maybe even make some yourself? I have never seen those men pondering over so few words." Enjolras asked with a smile, although she could tell he was dead serious.   
"I, still don't really know what's going on."  
"we're overthrowing the government," Courfeyrac came up behind her.   
Enjolras rolled his eyes, "you can see why I don't have him help me with speeches, but seriously, your help can be as public or private as you wish."  
Emma still did not move. she took a breath and raised her chin. both men were very tall and she felt dwarfed by them. "I think I will need to sleep on it, but for now I think you can count on my help on your speeches, and myself making speeches, it would be good publicity, a woman, making public appearances against the monarchy." she pursed her lips as if to say more. Enjolras bowed and without a word left the two of them.  
she turned to face Courfeyrac. her eyes filled with fear and wonder. "what did I get myself into?"  
"nothing you can't back out of, if you want" looked suddenly stern, "it's not something that is risk free."  
her eyes softened and her lips pulled up ever so slightly, not quite a smile, as she was still quite scared. she shivered slightly, it was cool in the room and Coufeyrac’s explanation of the meeting left her still with Goosebumps.   
"come on, I think I've still some bread from this morning, let's get you warmed up." he took his jacket off and wrapped it around her.   
Emma gave him back the jacket insisting she didn't need it and they walked outside and saw pouring rain, she looked up at Courfeyrac whose eyes had a devilish glow.   
he jerked his head towards the apartments and they began to run. it was a full free sprint, Emma felt free. she was a slow runner and couldn't possibly keep up with the man but she felt free nevertheless. they got to a place in the street where the water had been backed up by something and stopped. Emma, who wasn't wearing shoes picked up her skirt and stepped into the water seeing that it wasn't that deep she began to move quickly. despite the fact that she had better balance without shoes she was still a clutz. she fell over and became completely covered in water. she laughed, that's all she could do. she closed her eyes and laughed, as happy as a child.  
Courfeyrac swept her into his arms and carried her across the way. he looked at her, his eyes sparkling with joy and set her down. just as she stood, she cried out in pain. one foot had landed on a pile of broken glass. she stood on one foot and saw a green shard in her heel. she grunted, it wasn't a sad grunt, it was a grunt of irony. she bit one side of her lip, as she often did when she was thinking or was in pain, and pulled the shard out of her heel. she didn't think there were any small pieces but ran her hand over her foot anyways. she let out a slight wince indicating that there were so Courfeyrac swept her up again and carried her to the apartments.   
"take me into my room, I have some bandages."  
he did as he was told. he set her on her bed.  
"in the bottom drawer of my desk there is a bag."  
Courfeyrac handed her the bag looking worried. she lit a candle and looked at her foot. she rummage through her bag and pulled out a pair of silver colored tweezers and began pulling glass out.   
she set the slivers on the table and looked at her foot. again she rummage around in the bag until she pulled out a small bottle, it contained vodka. Courfeyrac looked puzzled. "it cleans out the wound, ahh, hand me that towel," she indicated to a rag on the table. once she received it she sopped up the blood and poured the liquid on her foot. she rubbed it into the wound, trying to get it into the cuts. once satisfied she took out a jar of ointment and rubbed it on her foot once again trying to get it into to wound. it had stopped bleeding at this point so Emma wrapped it in a small bandage to keep the ointment on and called it good.   
Courfeyrac looked at her in amazement. "and you're only 19?"   
she winked, and stood, being careful not to put weight on her heel, grabbed two towels that she had bought today. she handed one to Courfeyrac and used the other on herself. she dried her hair and clothes as best she could.  
"I will give you some privacy, I'll be in my room" he turned and left.   
Emma shut the door and changed into loose fitting pants and a loose shirt. she was in warm clothing but was still cold. she started a fire so that perhaps when she came back into her room it would be warm.   
naturally Emma ended up with soot on her nose. she didn't notice though. she gave her hair one more wringing and hung up both towels and her clothes from today to dry by the fire.  
she walked into Coufeyrac’s room, which was still rather cold. he turned to her and smiled.   
he laughed "Emma you have soot all over yourself!"  
she went to a table where mirror sat and looked at her face, "there's just a bit on my nose!"  
"well your nose is just so large..."  
"Hey!" And she hit him in the stomach.  
he stumbled back pretending that it hurt him and Emma rolled her eyes. "your room is so cold."  
"well Mademoiselle, I can fix that." Courfeyrac joked.  
Emma tried to put on a face to show her disapproval at his bad pickup line but she couldn't keep her face straight at the man's dumb expression.  
their laughing attracted Joly, laughed to him is like light to bugs, he always found himself around it. Joly entered without knocking and set his hat on the table.  
"Joly! I was just about to... um"  
Emma raised her eyebrows "ohhh that's what you think pretty boy!" she had a smile on her face.  
Joly laughed at Coufeyrac’s embarrassment, "you're losing your touch! or maybe Emma just has good taste!"  
she winked at Joly which just made him laugh harder.   
"what do you want Joly?" Courfeyrac was smiling but he seemed far from amused.  
"I heard laughing and I was worried you guys were having too much fun!"  
"we were having fun until you showed up" Courfeyrac laughed.  
"Courfeyrac you weren't going to get (insert 1800s French term for "laid")" Emma laughed.  
"you say that now..." he trailed off.   
Emma rolled her eyes "I need some sleep, goodnight Joly, Courfeyrac.”


	4. 4

4  
2 months later mid to late August  
Emma stood in her room, she had gotten dressed and cleaned up. today she wore a rather formal dress, it was silky and blue she had a corset on and her hair was up. she loved wearing fancy clothes but they were such a pain to where, between the corset and the tight boots that bound her feet up, making it impossible to run.   
at ten there was a knock on her door. Emma answered, it was none other than Adrian, her brother's closest friend and business partner.   
"hello, I'm looking for a young girl, she is probably lost. possibly injured in some way? I was told I would find her in this apartment, but you could not be her." he teased.  
Emma did not look impressed, "hello Adrian,"  
"Emma!" he filled his voice with mock surprise, he hugged her tightly and picked her off her feet.  
Emma's brother had owned an inn with him, and after her brother's death she had been placed in charge of it. they talked business for a while keeping sure not to mention her brother.   
Adrian had raised Emma as much as her brother had, and more than the rest of his friends. the rest of the friends all had their part in Emma's life, but none as much as this man. Adrian might have been handsome to Emma, except he, for all intents and purposes had been her brother. her brother had been her father. Adrian had soft brown hair and light green eyes. he had a happy manner to him, he wasn't as gay as Courfeyrac or Joly, nor was she as serious as Enjolras or Marius.   
they talked about the inn for a short time, they just went through the plan they had already made for it, finally Emma stopped, "what did you really come here for,"  
Adrian paused, "I came to talk business?"  
"no you didn't"  
he sighed "you always were bright, Emma, James and I want you to come home."  
"HA!" Emma enunciated the syllable as if it were a word, "you want me to come home, just like that?"  
"Emma, James and I think it's time you grew up and stopped pouting like a little girl." his voice was patronizing.   
"grow up? I'm the one living by myself." anger filled Emma's voice, "you know why I left? Because I got sick of being treated like this! I'm not a little girl who ran away anymore, you and Pete always kept me in the dark. did he even die in London? or was that just a little lie you made up because I can't handle the truth. here I can do whatever I please, no one stops me, for once I'm free."  
"Emma we always let you do whatever you wanted,"  
"that doesn't mean that I was free!" by this time their voices had gotten significantly louder and had attracted some attention, there was a knock on the door and Combeferre came in.  
"Emma are you alright?  
"yes I'm fine" her anger melted at the sight of her friend. "we're just having a disagreement."  
"yell if you need me." as Combeferre was turning Feuilly was entering her room.  
"are you alright? I hear yelling?"  
Emma just nodded and Combeferre pulled Feuilly out of the room. she turned back to Adrian "there are people here who care about me, they would notice if something happened. I'm not saying I minded the freedom but I would leave for days and no one would notice. James was always drunk and you and Pete were always gone. do you even know how many lips I have split because some man made an advance on me? you three raised me to be independent, if you didn't want me to be this independent maybe you should have split those men's lips."  
"I...I... I didn't know"  
"exactly, I'm not going home Adrian, you can show yourself out." with this she left leaving her door wide open.  
for the next few weeks she ventured out early and returned late. she explored all of her area of Paris and spent a lot of time in the library. her friends could see her drawing herself in, and they respected that, except Courfeyrac who continued to make passes at her. she didn't mind it though, he was sweet and he didn't mean any harm by it.  
she continued to go to the meetings of the friends of the ABC where she felt there air in the room change. it was going from squabbles of young men to an air of true revolt. this scared Emma as well as excited her.  
she never thought that she would live to see change. Enjolras inspired the men in a way that she had never seen from one so young; she had barely seen it from one who was old.   
Enjolras was the leader, there was no dispute over that fact.  
Emma had a deep respect for Enjolras, he had the guts and the will power, but he was often ignorant of the ways of war. in her mind he was more of a politician than a general. Emma was often vocal about this, but never in front of the rest of the ABC. she knew that a young woman questioning Enjolras' every move in front of his men would only instill doubt in their minds, which was not something a revolution could afford.  
Enjolras saw this and respected it. he knew that Emma wanted success, not power. they were two people with the same goal but two different angles of obtaining it.  
Enjolras and Emma separated the goal from the means and always attempted to separate their forming friendship and their political differences. Combeferre served as the mediator, without him Emma and Enjolras would rarely get anything done, they would just sit and squabble about the details.  
(by this time Marius had moved in with Courfeyrac.)  
one night Emma sat editing and polishing a speech Enjolras was to give in two days. this was mostly how Emma helped him, Enjolras would put his ideas on paper and Emma would put touches on it to make Enjolras sound both relatable and intelligent enough to bring France into the light. the next morning Emma would bring him the speech and go through it with him so that he could learn it and make it his own.   
on this particular night Emma was having a very hard time with the speech, it really wasn't the speech as much as it was the fact she was occupied elsewhere. not anywhere in particular, more of everywhere all at once.   
a knock came at her door shooting her back into reality but she didn't look up from her work.  
"come," she yelled gently.  
after a second where she pretend to finish a line and set down the quill she turned, and found Joly. she smiled at this bright young man. he was never without his smile and cane.   
"Mademoiselle. the gents and I are going for a night on the town and wondered if you might come?" he said brightly rubbing his cane to the top of his nose with the word 'come'.  
"I would love too, but first I need to change"  
"ahh but Mademoiselle you look lovely!"  
she laughed "I would rather be comfortable than," she paused furrowed her brow and nose, "lovely, you've no idea how uncomfortable corsets are" she finished keeping one eyebrow knitted and smiling as Joly's face filled with red. "I'll be quick"  
"I'll wait here, everyone else left." he turned and closed the door. Emma alone threw on fresh clothes, actually, she noticed, the same ones she wore to Paris in the day she came.  
she met Joly in the hall and he offered his arm to her. she took it and they walked to the same cafe that Courfeyrac and her went to on her first night here.  
at the cafe sat all of the ABC, save Enjolras, who Emma was convinced could not have fun. Combeferre and Feuilly sat on either side of Emma. they laughed and drank and told stories to their youth, at one point Feuilly nudged her and asked "bet you haven't spent this many days drunk Mademoiselle?"  
any other person would have been offended by this, but Feuilly meant well and Emma didn't get offended easy.   
she snorted "I never had a mom!" she laughed again "and I was raised by men! I've done my fair share of drinking," with that the men laughed.  
"but didn't you spend time in a nunnery?" Combeferre asked  
"a Convent, but," she shook her head and laughed "that only made wine more appealing."  
before long the men dispersed and Emma left, alone but she could manage. as she walked she noticed ahead of her, a rather drunk man stumble. he was trying to walk straight but could not.  
Emma ran up to help him having no doubt it was one of her friends. it was Courfeyrac, she went to his side and helped him stand.  
he looked at her with a confused look special to the drunk. she smiled and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder to everyone else they probably just looked like a couple in each other's arms.  
they walked to the apartments in silence. when they got to the door Courfeyrac couldn't find his key so he banged on the door until a very irritated Marius opened it.  
"what!? Courfeyrac remember your key!"  
"oh don't you scowl me!" Emma was reasonably sure he meant scold but she ignored it. Marius took Courfeyrac and helped him into his bed and Emma left.  
in the morning around five a very panicked knock came to her door. Emma wrapped her sleeping shawl around her and answered it. it was Marius. "Emma I can't get Courfeyrac to wake, he has a pulse but he won't wake."  
Emma followed Marius into the room had knelt beside the man's bed. Courfeyrac was on his side and one arm dropped off the bed in a position that is only comfortable to the drunk.   
she examined him, felt his pulse and opened an eye to check his reflexes. his breathing was slow and irregular. "he has alcohol poisoning. get me my bag in the bottom drawer of my desk"  
Marius left to fetch the bag.  
"Courfeyrac!" she gently slapped him on the cheek and he did not stir. Marius walked into the room with her bag. "give me something he can throw up into." she rummaged through her bag and got a small mortar and pestle and a vile of crushed leaves. she added a couple drops of water and ground them into a paste. "we need to make him sit up, sit behind him and hold him up as best you can." he did this and Emma put a bit of the paste on her finger and put it into the mouth of Courfeyrac. she held the bucket below him and he threw up. "thank you Marius" she said with a sigh.   
Marius looked panicked Emma however looked calm and even despite the fact she was panicking inside. "I've got to go Mademoiselle! I've a meeting with a law firm." he didn't look like he wanted to in the slightest.   
"that's ok, I can stay with him, he just has to sleep it off now." she smiled and Marius left. Courfeyrac now laid on his belly and Emma left for just one second to get a book.


	5. 5

5  
Emma looked up from her book at the movement in Coufeyrac’s bed. he was up. she stood and made him get up. she checked his eyes, his plus and his breathing rate.  
"you're all better" she whispered as to not inflame what she imagined was a raging headache.  
"what happened?" Courfeyrac rubbed his eyes.  
"exactly."  
"can I have some of that tea? it works really well, doesn't taste too good but..."  
she nodded, "I'll go make some water."  
when she returned with one cup of her special hangover tea and some mint tea for herself Courfeyrac stood by the window with a new shirt on, he had washed up. Emma was glad, his breath smelled rancid. she handed him the tea and sat. he looked at the book which sat on the table in his room.  
"what are you reading?"  
"it's the history of the Romans." he looked incredulous and she continued, "they're fascinating, everything from their republic to the tactics they used to take over the world. someone could spend a whole life time on the evolution of their religions; from their adaptation of the Greeks' theology to the adoption of the Catholic church after years of fighting Catholicism and the way they converted the world into Catholicism, it was very efficient. it's how we ended up with most of the pagan symbols, like the halo, that came from Ra, the Egyptian Sun god he is depicted wearing a disk...." she pointed to her head, and then dropped her hand.  
Courfeyrac was staring at her with amusement, amazement and love. she visibly shrunk back into herself. "keep going," he laughed.  
"I'm boring you" she laughed, "I could go on for hours, I don't think you understand."  
"then make me understand." he laughed.  
"ahh, you'll just be bored, I need some sleep, Marius woke me up at five to help you." she laid her hand on his jaw bone and smiled.  
"I'm sorry." Courfeyrac looked down  
"don't be, but now that you're up I'm going to sleep, you owe me," she winked and left.  
Emma let out a sigh as she woke, one of those sighs you let out when your fully rested. she looked around, her room was dark. at first she was very confused but then she realized that she shut her curtains. she looked at the watch on her table it was 10:30.   
Emma was impressed at how late she slept and sat to brush her hair after opening her curtains. the sky was filling with dark clouds, she hoped it wouldn't rain until she came back from the apothecary. Emma put on a simple dress took her bag, key and money and left.  
by this time Emma had learned most of the streets in her area, she knew where the apothecary was and how to get there she quickly go there and bought her herbs. she talked to the apothecary for a bit about new treatments for this or that. when Emma finally left the rain had just started. she wanted to get home before it was raining too hard and she briskly set out.   
in her haste she took a wrong turn and ended up in a dark back alley. once she realized her mistake she turned to retrace her steps she realized she wasn't alone in the alley. there was a large man approaching her, Emma tried not to panic. it was a small alley anyone passing would be close, she reasoned. she reached for the hilt of her knife nevertheless. it wasn't there, she suddenly remembered that she left it in her room because she couldn't conceal it.   
fear gripped her, she knew how to fight, but this man was so much bigger. he quickly approach her "what's your price?" His words spude venom, or was it liquor?   
she stiffened "my body is not for sale." her words were definitive, no one would have known the fear behind them.  
"oh, come on," he pressed into her "everyone's got a price,"  
"no!" she yelled and elbowed him in the mouth.  
his eyes flashed with anger and a knife appeared in his hand, "well I was gon' pay ya' but.." he grabbed her waist and Emma screamed as she struggled she felt the knife cut her arm.  
just then there was a loud voice. a man came running down the alley brandishing a pistol. with that the man ran.   
Emma didn't know her savior he was tall and handsome he had brown eyes and a strong jaw bone. he crouched down beside her  
"Mademoiselle? are you alright?"  
"yes," she replied with a nod.  
"come on I will take you home, where do you live?"  
she explained where she lived and the man walked her to the apartments. just as they entered Joly was leaving.   
"Emma! what happened!" her normally happy calm friend's face filled with fear.   
"I'm ok Joly."  
"you arm would beg to differ!" Joly's doctoring reflexes were taking over.  
Emma looked down, she hadn't really noticed before. she nodded and Joly ran upstairs to his room and the stranger helped her to her own room. she sat on her bed and thanked the man. she put the bag in its spot in her desk. by this time everyone knew where to find it, they had all needed a hangover cure once of twice.   
Joly burst into his room and washed his hands. "Emma take your shirt off."  
Emma looked to the stranger and motioned for him to turn, "Joly don't turn or I will break your jaw." her threat was a joke, but Joly also had no doubt that she would do it.  
she took the dress off whimpering slightly whenever she had to move her arm. at last she had a short sleeve blouse on that she slept in on warm days and pants.   
"ok, you two are good now." Joly sat next to her and started to looks at the wound. "don't get blood on my linens." she gently warned. the stranger still stood there dumbfounded at what he saw. a young woman in pants and a short sleeved shirt, with a good sized gash in her arm, not crying, not even complaining.   
there came steps down the hallway and Emma said in a loud enough votes that the passerby could hear " who's in the hallway?"   
"Combeferre." and man answered  
"do you have any alcohol on you?"  
Combeferre entered her room and looked almost as confused as the stranger. "umm what?" His question was rhetorical "I have some gin in my room, but I would rather not..." he saw her wound.   
"Combeferre I will buy you two times the gin you have. I really need some gin right now." Emma's voice quicker and became more strained indicating a rising amount of pain. Combeferre left to get his gin.   
Combeferre returned and gave her the bottle. Emma drank some of the liquid, "can we do this over the basin?"  
Joly nodded and they moved to the basin, he began to pour the gin onto her wound. her whole body clenched and when she could stand it no longer Joly stopped. Emma grabbed the bottle and practically poured it down her throat. she finally began to feel the intoxicant in her body she gave the gin back to Joly who began to clean a needle and thread.  
"ahh, stitches?"  
"yes,"  
she sighed "ok, I have an herb that will numb the area.” luckily it was already made up into a salve. she rubbed it into the area around the still bleeding cut it started to fall numb and Joly began to sew her up. the cut needed 7 stitches and despite the gin and the salve she was still in immense pain.  
after what seemed like an eternity Joly finished. "do you have bandages?"   
she nodded "in the drawer,"  
Joly dressed her wound it an awful colored paste and began wrapping it. Joly looked at her seriously "don't rip those stitched, redress it twice a day and watch for infection."   
"thank you Joly I will." Joly left the room.   
"thank you Monsieur" Emma said turning to the stranger.  
he bowed his head to her and took her uninjured hand and kissed it "perhaps our paths will cross again. I'm Daniel by the way."  
"I'm Emma, and perhaps they will," Emma nodded, and the stranger left.  
Emma started to clean up the blood in and around the skin when Courfeyrac entered. he stood behind her and asked "Emma, what happened?" there was a tremendous amount of panic in his voice, despite his efforts to hide it.   
Emma turned and looked at him tasting her hand on the basin. "can we not talk about it right now?"  
Courfeyrac had the same look of concern but he nodded.   
Emma cleaned her room to busy herself. she made her bed, slowly and carefully as to not rip the stitches. when she was finishing someone knocked as walked into her room.  
it was Enjolras, "Emma I'm still waiting for that speech."  
"I don't have it done," she made no excuse, despite her hectic day, she had had it for three days.  
Enjolras didn't scold, he just looked at her. "ok well give me what you have done. if I can't rely on you to do this tell me." his words were sharp and it took everything Emma had to not burst into tears.  
Courfeyrac spoke up "Enjolras give her a break, she got stabbed this morning,"  
Enjolras looked taken aback "are you alright?" he looked worried, it was a rather foreign expression to him.  
she nodded.  
"ok well, I've got to go though, can I have those papers?"  
again all Emma did was nod and hand him the papers. he promptly left.  
"he is so cold hearted, he does care for you Emma,"  
"yeah," and she sat on her bed and buried her face into the crooks of her elbows that rested on her knees. she sat like this for a while barely aware of Coufeyrac’s presence.  
Courfeyrac finally spoke, "Emma, you have to tell me what happened, who stabbed you?"  
Emma told her story, or at least a bit of it. she wasn't to descriptive of what the man wanted, she just told Courfeyrac that he wanted something. Courfeyrac knew what she meant, but he didn't lead on.  
"I could defend myself, I was weak and helpless, had it not been for a passerby...." she pouted. she was angry at herself.  
"Emma, for once in your life let someone help you. you don't have to do everything by yourself, all of us are here for you, I'm here for you."  
she stood "except you can't always be there, I can walk around with a chaperone like a little girl." Emma was frustrated, she knew Courfeyrac meant well but her ego was insulted.  
"Emma you realize most girls walk around with chaperones?"  
"I'm not most girls, I hate most girls, I refuse to be helpless." she crossed her arms and faced the window.  
"Emma, stop pouting, you're not five. you have to accept that you're small, you can't fight off that big of a man without a weapon."  
Emma turned at him her eyes filled with rage, she knew he was right but she hated it, she resented it. she couldn't say anything so she didn't l, she just stared at him. Courfeyrac stood his ground and stared back.   
Emma finally looked down. her face kept the same anger but it softened. she was trying to keep herself looking angry but she knew he was right. all she really wanted to do was cry, but she couldn't do that.   
Courfeyrac saw the tears, they weren't there but he could see them. she put her head in her hands and stood there not moving a muscle. Courfeyrac had an internal debate of whether or not to wrap her up in his arms or leave, he knew she probably wanted both.   
he went with his protective instinct and wrapped her up. she stood there, she didn't move but she let her body conform to his. they stood there for a while, unmoving.   
when she looked up her face was red, and her eyes glistened with tears. "I'm sorry, she turned away."  
Courfeyrac let out a short sympathetic laugh. "I don't care Emma," he paused, "you think that because you cry in front of me that I would love you any less?"  
Emma stated at him, love? is that what this is? "I'm...I..." Emma couldn't choke out the words, she didn't even really know what words.   
"Emma, I love you, your beauty isn't the only reason I hit on you..." he trailed off, surprised at his honesty.   
Emma looked at him, she still couldn't say anything even if she did know what to say.   
"now I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said anything, I know you could never love me Emma, but I love you."  
Emma continued to look at him. she certainly was attracted to the man, but she didn't even know what love was. at least romantic love. she finally spoke "Courfeyrac, people who love me tend to end up dead. I don't want you to end up dead."  
"Emma, I won't end up dead, as long as you're around I will live, I promise." his promise was heartfelt. she had no doubt he meant it.  
Emma fell into his embrace. until someone knocked on the door.   
it was Marius "ahh you're alive! both of you! I heard you got stabbed, are you alright Emma?" Emma nodded and he turned to Courfeyrac, "I need your help with something"  
Courfeyrac looked at Emma and she nodded, "anything my dear friend," and they left.


	6. 6

6  
that night at the ABC café  
laughter and shouts could be heard from the front of the cafe as Emma walked in. the meetings were growing more intense, Emma could tell that they were serious about overthrowing the monarchy, this made her nervous; they knew nothing about fighting; she barely knew anything about fighting, but at least she could shoot, she doubted any of these men had killed anything before.  
she walked into the back room completely occupied in this thought until Jean knocked into her.  
"sorry Mademoiselle! I didn't see you there, here," he handed her a mug of wine.   
"thank you Jean" she smiled at him and walked towards Enjolras.  
Combeferre and him had a map laid out on the table. "Emma," Combeferre greeted her.  
"evening, what are you looking at?" she looked at the map, it was Paris.  
"we are finding out how many men support us." Enjolras pointed at several hundreds of red dots.  
"oh?"  
"each dot is a group of twenty men," Combeferre explained.  
"as to not break the law prohibiting gatherings of more than 20 men?" Emma knew the answer but she asked anyways.  
Enjolras nodded.  
"and?" she continued.  
"we have 3,000 all over Paris" Enjolras answered. "and the national guard have 30,000"  
"aye, what is your plan?" she looked at Enjolras.  
he looked at her, "the people of Par...."  
"no, you need to figure out how to win with the men and the arms you have, not the ones you hope to have."  
"the people will rise." Enjolras defended, "they have to"  
"I've no doubt, but, we cannot depend on something we don't have. when the people rise it will make it a sweeping and decisive victory for the republic, but the truth is" she took a long pause and choose her words carefully. "the truth is that things are not bad enough for the people, the people are sick, the king has abolished the death penalty. I'm afraid that the people will not be willing to risk their lives for this unless they see that we will win, I'm afraid that we will have to make the hard fight on our own. once the people see that our success is eminent, but not before"  
"cowards," Combeferre spit.  
Emma just nodded her head.  
Enjolras sat down and put his hand on his chin. "you're right, but I don't see how else it can be done. we simply do not have the arms."  
Emma chewed the inside of her lip. "where is the biggest armory?"  
Combeferre pointed at the map.  
"may I?" Emma asked picking up a quill. she began to draw lines all over the map.  
Enjolras was puzzled at first, the marking seemed random then he realized what she was doing. she was drawing where the best options for a barricade were.  
"I've spent the last couple of weeks wandering around the city, these places look like good spots for a barricade." she took a long pause and drew one last circle. "this one would be the best, in my opinion, three streets intersect here and two are very small and the buildings are very high. the buildings are also relatively isolated, there is a park to one side and small building on the others. we want to literally have the upper ground and we would have it here. my recommendation would be that we build two barricades here." she pointed to the larger street. "this would make the national guard climb over the first before being able to get to us, also it would provide some protection from cannons."  
"but we wouldn't be able to fight them as easily" Combeferre said still looking at the map.  
"do you know how much it costs for the nation to attack a siege daily?"  
"she's right, it costs 1-2 million francs a day. all we really need to do is last a long time." Enjolras, who had not spoken in a while, knew what Emma was getting at.   
"exactly, and this spot has the houses of the people of the government. they wouldn't be able to get away from the fighting."  
"but we still have the problem of low ammunition." Courfeyrac stood behind Emma, she hadn't noticed him approaching but clearly he had been there for a while.  
"we've about thirty rounds per man," Enjolras looked up.  
"tomorrow I will go to that armory, give them some wine or something, I want to see if we can get into it. we need to either ruin their gun powder or make it our own." Emma winked at the word 'wine'.  
Enjolras nodded his approval and with that they disbanded. the cafe had an unfamiliar air to it. the men were happy and laughing, not that they weren't always don't that, it was just different this time.   
Emma sat at a table in the corner and Grantaire handed her a bottle of wine and a second mug. Courfeyrac sat down across from Emma and took some wine.  
"what did Marius want?"  
"he just needed to borrow some money for something." he shrugged.  
"ahh I see," she looked down.  
"you shouldn't go to the armory tomorrow you don't have to, in fact you don't have to do any of this Emma, the three of us can do this, there is no point in putting you through it too." he looked at her.  
Emma looked at him incredulously, "I appreciate the concern,"  
Emma stood and set her mug down, "but kindly, fuck off."  
with that Emma left. her words had been conveniently placed during a moment of relative silence and the whole cafe turned to Courfeyrac.   
"what did you say to her?" Joly finally broke the silence that had fallen after Emma's departure.   
Courfeyrac just stood and glared at Joly. Joly threw his hands up and backed up a step. "sorry"  
without a word Courfeyrac left.


	7. 7

7  
Emma took a walk, night had just fallen and the street lamps were being lit. she knew that it probably wasn't wise to be out there with her dominant arm in a sling but she didn't really care. she knew that if she returned to her apartment Courfeyrac would try to talk to her. she wasn't ready yet.  
she knew that it was a small thing and that the man meant well but her ego was bruised. Courfeyrac trying to protect her only kicked the bruise.  
before she knew it she was at Enjolras' flat. Enjolras had rich parents so he had a very nice home. as far as Emma could tell he had been in Paris for a few years studying and had lived here year round. Enjolras wasn't very open about his private life so it was hard for Emma to tell if she was right.   
Emma knew that Enjolras was probably still at the cafe but she knocked anyways. much to her surprise someone answered; however, it was not Enjolras. it was a burly man with black eyes and a bald head.   
"ello miss" his tone was gruff she knew that this man was not supposed to be there. the way he held himself she could tell.  
"perhaps you can answer me a question. where is the boy who lives here?"  
Emma saw a man in a national guard uniform pass behind him, she knew these men were no friends of the ABC. "I don't know. d' Bastard owes me money."  
"oh does he now?" the man grabbed her arm and pulled her closer.  
Emma let out a cry of pain, the man had just torn the stitches in her arm. "let me go! I don't know anything!"  
the national guard came up behind the man and saw Emma  
"you're the one who writes speeches for the traitor," his tone was flat and emotionless.  
Emma shifted her weight and put everything she had into hitting the burly man in the nose. she hit her target and the man dropped his hand. Emma ran, she ran straight towards the cafe hoping to find Enjolras before he went home.   
Emma burst into the back room of the cafe "where's Enjolras?" she yelled.  
Feuilly answered "you just missed him."  
"we have to find him now! do not let him go home."  
everyone stood and ran out the door to find their leader. Joly stopped as he passed "you ripped your stitches?"  
"I didn't rip them, Joly we can fix it later, we have to find Enjolras now."   
Joly furrowed his brow and nodded. both ran outside to look for Enjolras. Courfeyrac was walking towards the pair  
"Courfeyrac!" Emma ran towards him " I need you to wait outside of Enjolras' house, don't be seen by the men inside, don't let Enjolras go in."   
Courfeyrac looked at her alarmed but nodded.  
"quickly! and bring him back here if you find him!"  
Emma and Joly split up to search the area. she looked for twenty minutes before she hear her name called.  
she turned to find Combeferre and Courfeyrac half dragging and unconscious Enjolras. "bring him into my room now." she ordered.   
they brought him into her room and she ordered them to lay him down on the bed "tell me what happened."  
Combeferre spoke "I found his house door open. there were two men inside who were yelling. they had his hands tied up and they were beating him. Courfeyrac ran into his house just after I did. the two men got scared and ran."  
Emma looked at his head, it was bleeding profusely out of a gash that looked like it came from the butt of a gun. "Combeferre put on water, Courfeyrac find Joly, I don't know enough about medicine to help him." Emma got her bandages out of the desk drawer and the rags.   
she walked to the basin where Combeferre was filling the pot and she got a rag wet. she began to clean Enjolras' forehead from the blood. the wound was being to clot which was a good sign. Enjolras winced when she got closed to the wound "Enjolras, listen to me I need you to stay conscious. do not pass out." she pressed the rag onto the wound to keep him from bleeding out.  
Combeferre came up behind her "Combeferre keep pressure on his head."  
she walked to her bag of herbs and began to grind up two different dried berries, once they were a fine powder she took a mug of water and stirred them in.   
"drink this" he tilted his head forward and drank the entire mug full.  
Enjolras blinked and looked around "what did you give me?"  
"it's a mixture of Hawthorn and rosehip it helps wake you up and gives you some vitamins." Emma could see some color returning to his face.   
Joly burst into the room with Courfeyrac on his heels. Emma quickly explained all that Joly would need to know to save his life and set to work. the wound had stopped bleeding completely by this point so it didn't need stitches. Joly dumped some of Combeferre's gin onto his head and cleaned his wound.   
after Joly had finished he turned to Emma "your turn."  
Emma looked at him confused "for what?"  
"you ripped your stitches, I have to sew you back up again."  
Emma looked down at her arm, there was a large spot of blood on her dress sleeve where her cut was. she took a deep breath the first time was bad enough but now the cut was inflamed and damaged. "if it's necessary, but only if it's necessary."  
Joly nodded at her.  
"turn around."   
after they had obeyed Emma put on the same outfit she had worn this morning to get sewn up the first time. after this she sat on the end of the bed Emma whimpered with pain as Joly prodded the wound.  
"I need to put one more stitch in it."  
Emma sighed and closed her eyes. "do it quick then"  
her stomach started to turn with that horrible feeling that you get before you do something you have been dreading. her arm had been throbbing since she had gotten away from the men at Enjolras' flat but she had ignored it, hoping that it would go away or that Joly would forget. she knew it was dumb but she dreaded that damn needle.  
Joly cleaned the needle and stitched up her arm as quickly as he could without messing it up. tears poured out of Emma's eyes as the needle pulled at her skin. the five seconds that Joly took seemed like longer than he took to do seven this morning.   
"thank you Joly.”  
Joly nodded and left.  
“go sleep Emma, you've had a stressful day." Courfeyrac sat down beside Emma and wrapped an arm around her waist.   
"I can't, I've nowhere to sleep." she motioned her eyes to Enjolras.  
"you could go into my room." Courfeyrac offered.  
"Marius is in there," she said with a laugh "and anyways I need to watch him."  
"I'm still awake you know?" Enjolras said bitterly  
Courfeyrac laughed. "well then in that case, Enjolras can sleep in my bed. come here you big baby."   
Courfeyrac picked up Enjolras who made a very weak struggle and brought him into his own room. while he was gone Emma striped her bed of the sheets, there was blood all over them. she laughed to herself at how many sheets she was going through. she stood at the foot of her bed with new sheets and stared at it. she couldn't very well do this with one hand.   
Courfeyrac walked in and grabbed the pile of sheets from her. he made her bed without a word. finally Coufeyrac spoke after a long silence "Marius wasn't in there so it looks like we're going to have to watch him."  
"ok, what time is it right now?"  
"11:30"  
Emma nodded, "so at two thirty."  
Emma plopped herself into her bed and grabbed the book she had been reading this morning. Coufeyrac stood there and watched her. she looked up at him a scooted over motioning her hand for him to sit.  
Coufeyrac sat awkwardly next to her careful not to brush her arm. she looked at him and set her book down. she turned to him and ran her hand up the side of his face and through his hair, carefully studying every curl on his head. Coufeyrac had stopped breathing, he sat motionless afraid that if he moved she would stop.  
Emma stopped but kept her hand on his neck. she looked him in the eyes and looked down at his chest, his breathing rate was slow and timed. he was clearly trying to keep it that way. his eyes stayed focused on Emma and she finally looked back up at him.  
in one swift movement Emma straddled the man. Coufeyrac hands immediately grabbed her hips. it was the first movement he had made in nearly five minutes. Emma placed her hands on his neck so that her thumbs were in front of his ears and her hands cradled his neck.  
Emma couldn't quite tell if she had pulled Coufeyrac's lips towards her or if Coufeyrac leaned towards her but either way they were locked in a passionate kiss. the couple couldn't tell if it were seconds of hours that they stayed like this but at last Emma pulled away from him. she slowly sat back down beside him and settled into his arms.  
they sat there gently breathing in each others perfume until Emma finally broke the silence. "I love you too, I didn't say it before when I should have."  
Coufeyrac just kissed the top of her head and began to run his fingers through her hair. Emma shivered. she reached down to the bottom of the bed where her blankets had been kicked and pulled them up. Coufeyrac adjusted himself so that he was laying down and Emma did the same. she pulled the blankets up to their chins and laid her head down on his shoulder.  
subconsciously Emma began to gently run her fingers around the mans chest. she drew circles and lines until Coufeyrac grabbed her hand. "I cant sleep with you doing that, unless," he turned around to face her still keeping her hand in his. "you don't want to sleep."  
with that Coufeyrac wrapped a leg around Emma pulling her even closer to him.  
she laughed, "I'm going to check on Enjolras" she gently pushed his chest and got up.  
she returned in five minutes and got back into bed. "what exactly happened?"  
Coufeyrac looked at her puzzled, "with Enjolras?"  
Emma nodded.  
"you would have to ask Combeferre, by the time I got there he had already run in and broken up the fight."  
"they were fighting?"  
he just nodded.  
"I'm surprised they didn't have him tied up, the looked ready for him when I was there."  
"you were there?" he sounded slightly panicked but not surprised.  
"yeah, I was wandering around for a while after I left the cafe, I just ended up at his house. I saw shadows in his window, I thought that Enjolras was home and I had a couple of questions for him." she laughed briefly, "it wasn't him. the big guy opened the door and grabbed my arm. how did you think I ripped my stitches?"  
Coufeyrac just shrugged, "running around looking for Enjolras?"  
Emma laughed. "don’t worry about me Coufeyrac I’ve always taken care of myself.”  
“yeah I know, but it doesn’t mean you have to anymore.” Coufeyrac grabbed her hands.  
Emma looked at him in the eyes as long as they could keep a straight face. after about ten seconds they both burst out laughing. once Emma could finally control herself she said through tears “that was the cheesiest thing I have ever heard anyone say!”  
Coufeyrac dropped his head and looked up at her bashfully smiling “I know, I know.”  
she raised his head and kissed him gently. she pulled her head back and bit the corner of her lip, playing with the small scar.  
just then a huge crack of lighting whipped over head. Emma tried not to jump but did. her breaths became short and shallow.   
Courfeyrac noticed "Awe is Emma afraid of lighting?"   
she smiled, briefly, her face quickly went back to a grimace. she knew it was stupid, but she couldn't help it, ever since she was a child it had scared her.  
Courfeyrac began to pull his fingers through her unbrushed hair. her breath became normal again, but her plus didn't slow.   
they sat in silence until another crack of lightning hit, this time a lot closer. she tried not to be affected by it, but writing a minute multiple cracks hit, all seeming to go off at once.  
Courfeyrac continued to run his hand through her hair, she had so much of it Courfeyrac was hardly half way through it. the lighting finally stopped and Emma curled her legs into herself so that her knees rested on Coufeyrac’s thighs and her head on his chest. his arm wrapped around her crossing under her arm and around her hip, his fingers rested just below her belly button. her body face towards him, her shoulder was just below his armpits she wrapped her arm around his back.   
before long they had both fallen asleep.  
Emma woke up, she was laying on her bed, next to Courfeyrac. she wasn't startled, she was a bit confused at first but eventually got her wits about her.  
she looked up and saw the chain of the pocket watch that Courfeyrac kept in his jacket. she moved slowly as not to wake the man who appeared to be sleeping peacefully, the watch read 8:03.  
Emma gently lifted her head off of his chest and Courfeyrac, who was not sleeping, as she thought, tightened his grip around her waist and flipped her around so that he was hovering above the short girls thighs and his arms were locked to the sides of her neck, she couldn't move.  
normally in a situation like this Emma would have been terrified, Courfeyrac was significantly bigger. her head, when standing, just reached his armpit. he was also very strong, it made Emma wonder what he did for work. had he not dressed the way he did she would have assumed he was a farmer, as his muscles were firm and large but not nearly that of a smith.   
Coufeyrac’s face was mischievous, he smiled slightly. Emma's brother had shown her some ways to get out of this kind of situation and she attempted one. in one fluid motion Emma reached her arms up so that they grasped the inside of Coufeyrac’s elbows. Courfeyrac did not expect this and it worked, momentarily that is. he quickly regained his position and Emma squirmed and tried, like the feeble girl she felt like.  
"tell me Mademoiselle, are you ticklish?" His eyes had the same devilish glow to them that they had the night before as they ran through the rain.   
"no" she squeaked.   
Courfeyrac leaned close to her so that their noses almost touched. Emma's eyes widened and she started to breath quickly. "you're lying," his eyes darted around her face, "I can tell."  
Emma bit the scar on her lip and smiled a toothy, bashful smile. Courfeyrac grabbed her ribs and Emma squealed. after what seemed like minutes for Emma and seconds for Courfeyrac Joly burst through the door. "it sounds like you're torturing her! and Enjolras said that you two weren't sleeping together!"  
Courfeyrac got off of Emma and stood with Joly. "we're not."  
"oh?" Joly doubted it.  
Emma laughed and stood, "well, technically...." she trailed of.  
Coufeyrac pushed her over back onto the bed and she laid there laughing.


	8. 8

8  
for the next few weeks Enjolras made few public appearances, Combeferre thought it would be wise if the people didn’t see the face of the revolution bloody and swollen.  
instead, despite the concern of Coufeyrac, Emma began to make speeches; although, they weren’t nearly as public as Enjolras’. they all knew that if the national guard were willing to beat up Enjolras to silence him that they would be willing to do the same to Emma.  
Emma resisted this despite the fact that she knew they were right. she wanted to make difference and she wasn’t going to make one like this.  
“Enjolras, I'm going to make a speech outside of Lamarque’s house next week, I'm sick of only making a speech a weeks to 20 of the same people.”  
“I was wondering when you would stop obeying Coufeyrac’s wishes.” he turned from the window of Coufeyrac’s room.  
Emma didn’t like the idea that she was ‘obeying’ Coufeyrac, but she didn’t argue with him.  
“one condition, we’re all there,” he looked at her sternly, “Emma I think you’re an excellent face for the people to grab onto,” he paused before saying ‘grab’, “but Coufeyrac and Combeferre are right, you’re also a huge target.  
“when the people see a, and if you will excuse me, a small woman standing up against the monarchists, they will see that they can as well.”  
Emma considered this or a moment, “alright, but you can't be one the stage with me. if I want to show strength I can't be surrounded by twelve or thirteen burly men.”  
Enjolras looked at her and then closed his eyes and gave a slight nod, it was both an agreement and a dismissal. Emma returned to her room and began trying to memorize her speech.  
“hey Emma” Coufeyrac’s voice came up behind her ..  
“hey.”  
“Enjolras just told me.”  
“and?” Emma didn’t want to fight him one this but she wasn’t going to back down either.  
“do you want any help with your speech?” he shrugged.  
Emma furrowed her brow.  
“look Emm, you could be killed walking to the shop, you could be shot when this finally goes down, hell we could all be killed in dome freak carriage accident.” he knelt down in front of her. “look Emma, I can ask you to do something but in the end it's your choice, you really want this, so I'm going to help you.”  
emma looked down at her hands in her lap and coufeyrac grabbed her chin and kissed her forehead.  
“I'm pretty selfish aren't I?” she stood and put the heels of her hands on the window sill.  
coufeyrac didn’t say anything.  
“I've spent the last three weeks complaining about you not wanting me to risk my life for this.” she took a long pause and courfeyrac stayed silent. “and I never stopped to consider why you don’t want me to. I guess I just assumed that it was because you thought I couldn’t handle it.”  
Emma turned to him. “I'm so sorry, please forgive me,”  
Coufeyrac just stood and wrapped his arms around her. “Emms I love you,” he bent his head and knees so that he could look her in the eyes, “of course I forgive you, but Enjolras is counting on that speech tomorrow. I can't let you not make it.”  
Coufeyrac stood back up and placed one hand on the back of her head and held her there until Emma shifted her torso back.  
“I love you.” she whispered.  
Coufeyrac smiled, “lets do something tonight”  
“what do you have in mind?”  
“something…”  
Emma raised her eyebrows  
“I've got to go get ready…” and he ran out the door.  
Emma smiled at him as he left. his childlike impulsiveness always kept her on her toes.  
Emma decided to get a bowl of soup for lunch, it was November and beginning to get cold. Emma put on a long dark blue cloak before she left and pulled the hood up.  
not only did this keep her warm but it made her less conspicuous, she made sure ‘Emma the revolutionary’ was never seen in this cloak.  
Emma went to a small café 15 minutes away from her apartment she sat down and began to read and eat her soup. at this point Emma was reading about the battle of waterloo, mostly the tactics used by both sides. just as she was beginning to settle into her book a small boy tapped on her shoulder.  
“hello Gavroche, haven’t seen you in a while?”  
“no mademoiselle, I've been… doing things” Gavroche clearly didn’t want to talk about it so Emma didn’t press.  
“hmm, I've a job for you, I’ll pay you well,” Emma insisted the boy with money and his eyes lit up.  
“what is it?”  
“why don’t you come to my apartment tomorrow morning? I’ll tell you then.”  
Gavroche nodded, “I have something from Coufeyrac.” he handed her a note and turned to run off.  
“Gavroche?” Emma called after him “forgetting something?” she held up a five franc piece.  
Gavroche’s eyes widened but he shook his head, “Coufeyrac already paid me and he told me to not take any money from you.”  
“did he now, well, we don’t have to tell him about this do we?” she winked and threw the coin at him.  
Gavroche smiled wide and ran off.  
Emma looked down at the note in her hand and opened it:  
Mademoiselle Emma,  
You’ve been in Paris for nearly five months now, lets see how well you know the streets. go to the place where I first took you to drink at 4:00  
love  
Coufeyrac  
Emma smiled at the eccentricity of that man, how could she not love him? its nearly 2:30, she would have time to even take a proper bath, she hadn’t had one in a few weeks and she thought she might splurge.  
she walked to her apartment and grabbed a change of cloths and her towels. she made the short walk to the bath house down the way by which time it was 3:00.  
“hello, Madame” Emma greeted the woman in the bath house.  
“hello miss, what will it be today?”  
“I would like a hot bath and some, lets go with rose soap.” she smiled.  
“yes miss, that’ll be 25 sous.”  
Emma handed the woman 30. “keep the change,” and she winked.  
Emma shampooed her hair and soaked in the hot water for twenty minutes before she got out.  
Emma dried her hair as well as she could and put one of her better dresses, it wasn’t entirely practical for most things but she didn’t know what Coufeyrac intended to do. at least it didn’t need a corset, she laughed to herself.  
Emma thanked the woman and walked into the street.  
She began to make her way towards the dingy pub where she drank way too much before she realized that this was not where he first took her. she thought back, we went to the abc meeting first, where Enjolras yelled at Coufeyrac. she smiled, Enjolras was hard to deal with 99.99% of the time, he was blessed with beauty, brain and leadership skills. he lacked, however, in the relationship department.  
Emma made it to the back room of the café, she looked around, it felt empty without the music and drinking of her friends. it was just before 4 and Emma wondered why Coufeyrac sent her here, there didn’t appear to be anything here.  
just as Emma was doubting that Coufeyrac remembered where they first went the woman who cleaned up the café walked in and gave Emma a letter.  
Emma,  
Your beauty is known throughout. There is a gift waiting for you across from the place where lovers unite and depart.  
Coufeyrac  
Emma laughed, that’s easy, it’s the carriage depot. she thought for a moment, what’s across from it though? she wandered to the depot, she didn’t spend much time in this area so she didn’t know what was across from the depot but as soon as Emma entered the square she knew what store Coufeyrac meant.  
there was a small jewelers’ shop sitting on the square. it looked out of place amongst the horses and the filth.  
Emma entered the shop and saw a small man with bushy white hair behind the desk. he appeared to be working on a necklace of some sort. his head popped up as Emma walked in, “you must be my dear Coufeyrac’s girl, he said you were beautiful, but my dear,” he smiled at her in the way old men do. “he must have been being bashful, although” he tilted his head a bit and looked a bit surprised. “it matters not, here” he reached under his table and gave her a rose a note and a small box.  
“thank you monsieur,” she bowed her head and began to leave.  
“mademoiselle, Coufeyrac asks that you don’t open the box yet.”  
she nodded and the man sat back down. she exited the shop and took the note.  
Emma, Emma, Emma,  
go to the place where knowledge can be found by all who seek it.  
Coufeyrac  
Emma looked at the note, this one was a bit more difficult but by no means hard. Her first guess would have been the library at the college where her and Combeferre go to learn. But no, only the well educated learn there, those who cannot read go to the story teller.   
the storyteller was a man of legend, no one knew where he lived, where he came from of why he knows so much. The old man came out on Saturday mornings to tell stories to the street urchins who can't learn themselves.  
The old man told his stories at a small stage on the campus to the college. Emma doubted that the man had permission from the college, but he never got in the way, and Emma had never seen the college tell him to leave.  
the campus was a good thirty minute walk from where she was, and it was getting cold already. She took a short detour and got her cloak and a satchel from her room.  
she looked at the small box before she slid it into the bag, it was an ornately carved maple box. as she twirled it in her hands the grain of the wood reminded her of clouds, the way it bubbled and exploded.  
as simple silver fastener held the two halves together. it wasn’t locked but instead a small nub protruded from the clasp on the lower half of the box. the nub fit into a circle missing from the upper section of the clasp.  
she knew she could open it and Coufeyrac would never know, but she wouldn’t. he asked her not to. she drew her curtains as she left and hurried to the stage.


End file.
